Monsoon Cup Shows Growth Across a Wide Range of ROI Measures

As sailing becomes more professional, different business models and partnerships are being explored by promoters to deliver value to a wide variety of stakeholders. Around the world, governments are taking a bigger interest in sailing as a platform to deliver not just tourism, but other economic benefits including  jobs.

While working with government can provide extra resources and opportunities, it also brings increased scrutiny from those who might be seeking to generate political gains. Events that are reliant on public spending for sponsorship can’t point to increased sales of energy drink through the supermarket tills as proof of return on investment. Instead, promoters who work with governments and tourism authorities often have hundreds of metrics they need to report against.

The annual Monsoon Cup match racing regatta held in Terengganu, Malaysia  has reported a 30 per cent increase on its returns on investment for event, media and brand value this year compared with MYR539 million achieved last year. The event, which has become the model for other events on the World Match Racing Tour, is also a model for regions that are interested in using sailing as a tourism and development driver.

Peter Gilmour has revealed figures that show the cost of staging the Monsoon Cup was about MYRYR30 million, of which 60 per cent was borne by the government, with the rest supported by private funding. In return, the event is a significant contributor to the nation’s economy.

Gilmour said:

‘Basically, all the costs go into running and hosting the event and we get tremendous knock-on benefits like additional advertising. Thirty per cent is an average target that had been set for on a year-on-year basis. It has gone up year-on-year by over MYR100 million.

Event organisers report that The Monsoon Cup 2009 attracted 101,794 spectators, created 1,722 jobs and generated a print media value that was worth MYR24 million.

There’s a lot of economic spillover locally. Airport passenger arrivals increased from 300,000 a year to four million while a sports stadium and two brand new hotels were built in the state. All these happened during the Monsoon Cup season.

Malaysia has a eight-year contract to host the Monsoon Cup, organised by T-Best Events Sdn Bhd, the official event organiser for the competition. Longevity and certainty are important for investment and raising sponsorship from the private sector.

What we are doing now is targeting areas like attracting even more spectators and generate a higher turnover locally. So, when that starts getting measured into the local market, that is where we hope to lift the impact.

While the gross television numbers are over-inflated, the measure does allow comparisons to be made year on year. So while a figure in the billions is misleading in terms of the number of people who actually watched, the growth figure that can be calculated by comparing the same metric from year to year is useful. The Monsoon Cup reports:

Last year, 23,359 minutes was broadcast via 24 broadcasters, reaching a potential 2.1 billion households across 184 countries.

In 2008, 12,900 minutes was televised via 18 broadcasters, reaching a potential 1.3 billion households in 137 countries.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

Malaysia Launches Development Programme to Fill Keelboat Sailor Void.

The structure of sailing as a sport is largely determined by the fact that it is an Olympic event. Investment, training and elite athlete programs are geared towards the pursuit of gold medals in an almost arbitrary range of dinghy classes. For most non-Olympic disciplines, it’s harder to identify new talent and develop the future elite sailors (single handed offshore racing being an exception).

With the announcement of a new era in the America’s Cup, where nationality rules may be introduced for crew, development of non-olympic sailors is starting to be lo0ked at. In the UK, the British Keelboat Academy has been relaunched with an eye to creating the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race competitors of the future, but elsewhere, non-Olympic sailing has been identified by governments as a way of not just developing talent, but national pride.

This week, Malaysia announced a development plan to help develop the nation’s sailing fraternity and raise its international potential on the professional yacht racing circuit. The new initiative, spearheaded by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek, is aimed at accelerating the progress of local athletes in the sailing arena and propelling them towards international sailing events. These prestigious global yacht racing events include the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), the Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup as “Special Events” in the sport as sanctioned by ISAF (International Sailing Federation).

The athletes enrolled on the programme will have access to the world’s top racing events that will also provide the most intense test of a sailor’s character.

This new professional sailing programme for Malaysia is of particular importance for talented sailors looking to move into more professional and challenging yacht racing disciplines. Currently, the country supports a healthy following of sailors in the Optimist, Laser and 470 dinghy classes. Dinghy sailors are regular competitors with support of the Malaysian Yachting Association in the SEA Games, Asian Games and the Olympic Games.

Malaysia has identified the big void of talent when it comes to racing in keel boats and on the professional world circuits. Dato’ Shabery agrees that this situation is due to the lack of a planned development route that sailors could follow and move up to the professional global circuit.

He said:

The Sports Industry Division of the Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry is to be commended for bringing forth the idea that a dynamic programme is needed, where amateur sailors will receive high level coaching. Currently Malaysia is focusing on the medal sports but I would like to one day, see our athletes taking part in professional sailing events such as the ISAF World Match Racing Tour and possibly the America’s Cup”.

Dato’ Shabery informed the media at a press conference that the programme will involve an initial four-year plan which will see the participation of 10 athletes. This programme will run closely with the organisers of the Monsoon Cup, the final event of the WMRT.

“We will work closely with the organisers of the Monsoon Cup as they have the expertise to train and provide opportunities to our sailors. They are delighted to support the programme as it fits in nicely with their own development work which they have been carrying out for the past several years.”

Gilmour Tells ICYC How Yacht Clubs Can Get Commercial.

The International Council of Yacht Clubs, a group of yacht club operators across the world, congregated at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Perth, Western Australia, to hold their 5th Commodores Forum to meet and share their experience and views.

Peter Gilmour, Acting President of the World Match Racing Tour was invited to present what the Tour has learnt and specifically the Monsoon Cup, Malaysia in running commercial events. The main objective of the forum was to discuss how different yacht clubs manage their services and what they can do better.

Peter strongly endorsed the role that yacht clubs play in events, however he contemplated that clubs looking to host commercial sailing events without wanting to take the risk of affecting their core business can set up a separate entity to do so. He said that most yacht clubs were not originally established by their members to organise commercial events.

“However, they can establish a separate entity with a Board of Directors as event promoters capable of taking on risk, establishing a balance sheet, seeking commercial partners and making contracts for service. Some of the biggest yacht clubs in the world have been successful in organising such events with an entity set up alongside their usual operations.”

He talked about the role of yacht clubs in commercial sailing events where he drew a distinction between what is considered “commercial” and what is not – this is dependent on the amount of risk the yacht clubs are willing to take.

For instance, if a yacht club’s turnover is say USD5 million per annum, then the board of management and club members are most likely going to risk say 10 percent on a sailing event and this then limits the size and scope of the event. In defining commercial sailing events he indicated a budget of USD 500,000 and above was the benchmark.

Using the Monsoon Cup as an example, Gilmour highlighted that an important component of world-class events is drawing a significant crowd to justify the importance of televising the event and went into a more detailed explanation of the key drivers behind the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia. Gilmour elaborated on the growth in both domestic and international tourism and the important role sports tourism is now playing in society as well as the critical part that government play in assisting commercial events.

At the forum attended by key personnel from yacht clubs all over the world, Gilmour reiterated the important role the top sailors have in representing themselves and being the brand ambassadors for the event that is being hosted.

“With significant sailors at these events the importance of presenting them to the public as celebrities is something that yacht clubs really need to embrace and pay careful attention to. The interest of the yacht club community to seek significant expansion into various different commercial areas is amazing! Currently, there is tremendous interest from all over the world on running commercial sailing events and how to run such businesses better. I was really impressed with the knowledge, capability and desire to improve in a range of areas.”

This is the fifth year the forum has been held and it is something that the International Council of Yacht Clubs has done to get participants up to speed and compare notes with their peers in the industry.

“There is still much more that can be done and I am excited to see so many yacht clubs considering how they can learn from each other and outside events.”

The 6th Commodores Forum for the ICOYC will be held at the Seattle yacht Club in September 2011.

Watch The Monsoon Cup Live.

Live streaming thanks to SAIL.TV

Monsoon Cup Prize Money a Glimpse of WMRT Future? #WMRT

Ever since it was announced that the World Match Racing Tour was under new ownership in September, many have been wondering what the future holds for the championship.

Most have welcomed the change of ownership, with a belief that the Tour will benefit from increased investment. Certainly if the prize pool for the 2009 Monsoon Cup is anything to go by, the World Match Racing Tour may be able to deliver a truly professional global sailing series.

The Monsoon Cup, which starts later this week in Malaysia, is offering total prize money of MYR1.57m (US$ 454,000). The winner pockets MYR 360,000 (US$104,000) while the last team (12th place) receives MYR 50,000 (US$14,400).

Monsoon Cup Race Advisor, Datuk Peter Gilmour said,

‘This makes the regatta the biggest prize pool available throughout all sailing events in 2009. Importantly, the Monsoon Cup marks the final stage of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) where the ISAF World Champion will be crowned.’

Gilmour noted that the increase in prize money is attributed to the increased sponsorship commitments from the key sponsors and the State Government of Terengganu in providing such outstanding facilities and intra-government support that takes the event to a new level.

While there are many pretenders to the overused and largely misleading phrase, ‘the F1 of sailing’, the World Match Racing Tour is probably the only sailing event that comes close. It is truly global, visiting more diverse markets than any other event on an annual basis. It features some of the worlds best professional sailors and confers upon the winner the genuine title of World Champion.

Leaving aside the fact that it is effectively a ‘one-make’ championship, the World Match Racing Tour has the potential to deliver a truly recognisable World Championship outside of the Olympic classes.

The Monsoon Cup is owned and organised by the same team that has now acquired the Tour commercial rights. If other events on the Tour are to be run in the same manner, with the same prize money, then it will attract attention from sailors, sponsors and media alike.

Like many sailing platforms, The Monsoon Cup is backed by Government tourism and development budgets. It is project of the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports and it is proudly hosted by the State of Terengganu and is supported by key sponsors Richard Mille, TM, Cartrade Group (CTG), Astro, Firefly Airline, and Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa.

Like many, we are eager to learn more about the plans for the WMRT 2010 and beyond.

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